Squeeze Play

Today's Producer Price Index will probably be more disconcerting for investors who care about corporate profit margins than it is for investors who worry about inflation.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC estimate the headline PPI, which measures the prices businesses are paying for finished goods, such as office furniture, rose 0.3% in January from its December level. That would put it about 5.8% above its year-ago...